Whale Watching PV

[LVSue]

We are going on the Oosterdam--older women not up for long strenuous excursions--and we love whale watching. We have decided to take a sailing whale watching excursion in Cabo (hoping it's not too hokey), and the shrimp feast in Mazatlan, figuring that would get us off the boat and we could have a look-see.

 

BUT the only whale watching ship excursion in PV involves beach and snorkling. Can anyone recommend an excursion that is simply whale/dolphin watching excursion on a boatt hat we can book on our own?

 

We will be in PV from 8-5.

[ReadyToFloat]

We did a 4 hour tour on PV one year on a boat called the Vagabundo. It was a larger boat with ~20 people, and the crew was great. They didn't include lunch, but made a wonderful seafood ceviche snack. We saw quite a few whales that day. The Zodiacs were much faster, though I did notice they were all wearing raincoats and flotation devices while we were lounging in the sun and keeping our cameras dry. I'd love to try a Zodiac some day, though.

[Wisconsinites]

We did whale watching in PV using Wildlife Connections. From their website, it looks like you can choose whale watching or dolphin watching, but for our tour on 12/31/08, they combined the two. Maybe that's something they always do this time of year. We saw lots of humpback whales, one grey whale, and lots of dolphins. It was fabulous! We were on a 26-foot boat with a driver, a guide, and 14 passengers. Our guide, Marianna, was great at spotting the whales. No other boats were rushing over to the whales we spotted. It was just ours. This was a very private, personalized experience. The boat was shaded. I'd read about another company that uses large boats, plays loud music, serves lots of alcohol on board, etc. That wasn't for us. Wildlife Connections is staffed with employees who are biologists and conservationists. Their mission seems to be to educate people about whale behavior. The excursion was about $65. I was able to make a reservation in an email and didn't have to send any deposit. It starts with an educational presentation in their gathering place. They serve coffee and juice. That was at 8:15 PV time (which was 7:15 a.m. ship time). They leave the dock at about 8:45. When I booked it, I expressed concern that we might not be able to get there on time, but they said they'd wait for us. We took a cab from the pier and it took 8 minutes and cost $12. We got there by the 8:15 a.m. start time because for us, PV was a docked port, not a tender port. We were on the boat for about 3 hours. Our guide was wonderful. A few times, she put a hydrophone in the water so we could hear the song of the male humpback whale. We stopped in an area where many dolphins were swimming, and our guide allowed passengers to jump into the water and swim with the dolphins. Those who did it were in the water for at least a half hour, with dolphins there the whole time. Lunch was served on the boat . . . submarine sandwiches made to order, soda, juice, granola bars. I cannot say enough about the professionalism of this company.